Baâlons

Baâlons (French pronunciation: [balɔ̃]) is a commune in the Ardennes department in the Grand Est region of northern France.

Baâlons
Commune
The road into Baâlons
Coat of arms
Location of Baâlons
Baâlons Baâlons
Coordinates: 49°35′42″N 4°40′16″E
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Department	Ardennes
Arrondissement	Charleville-Mézières
Canton	Nouvion-sur-Meuse
Intercommunality	Crêtes Préardennaises
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Raoul Charbonneaux
Area 1	14.72 km2 (5.68 sq mi)
Population  (2021)	206
• Density	14/km2 (36/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	08041 /08430
Elevation	220 m (720 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Geography

Baâlons is located some 25 km north-east of Rethel and 18 km south of Charleville-Mézières. Access to the commune is by the D28 road from Bouvellemont in the south which passes through the village and continues north-east then north to join the D27. The D991 also goes north from Bouvellemont passing through the west of the commune to join the D951 north of Mazerny. The commune is mixed forest and farmland with particularly large forests in the east.

The Ruisseau du Fond Cahors rises west of the village and flows west to join the Ruisseau de la Fontaine aux Chênes. The Ruisseau des Puiselets forms the western border of the commune as it flows south to join the Ruisseau du Fond Cahors. The Ruisseau de Baâlons rises in the north of the commune and flows south towards the village then turns east to join the Ruisseau de Bairon on the eastern border. The Ruisseau de Bairon forms the eastern border of the commune as it flows south to join the Étang de Bairon which feeds into the Canal des Ardennes west of Tannay.

Hamlets and localities in the commune

Géraumont in 1905

Géraumont

Géraumont was a former fief where there is still a castle, now Géromont Farm.

Les Puiselets

A small hamlet west of Baâlons village. It is now very sparsely populated however the General Dictionary of cities towns, villages, hamlets and farms of France by Duclos says that in 1846 there were 70 inhabitants.

Beauvois

A Hamlet in the north of the commune which is still populated.

History

Various objects have been found in the commune:

• Tools and shards of flint which are probably Neolithic
• Gallo-Roman Bronze Statuettes of Mars and Jupiter
• A Merovingian and Carolingian Cemetery

The Universal Dictionary of Ancient and Modern France and New France by Marin Saugrain stated in 1726 that:

"BAALON in Champagne, Diocese of Reims, Parliament of Paris, Intendance of Chalons, Election of Rhetel, has 419 inhabitants. The Curate is worth nine hundred livres.".

Heraldry

Arms of Baâlons

Blazon: Parti per pale: 1 Or a lion Sable, 2 Argent with 3 fesses Sable; the whole in chief Gules charged with 3 mullets Or.

Administration

The Town Hall

List of Successive Mayors

From	To	Name
2001	2008	Ludovic Dasnois
2008	2012	Henri Charpentier
2012	2020	Pascal Nihotte
2020	Current	Raoul Charbonneaux

Population

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Baâlonnais or Baâlonnaises in French.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 660 —     1800 751 +1.86% 1806 795 +0.95% 1821 902 +0.85% 1831 925 +0.25% 1836 947 +0.47% 1841 920 −0.58% 1846 907 −0.28% 1851 862 −1.01% 1866 682 −1.55% 1872 633 −1.23% 1876 609 −0.96% 1881 553 −1.91% 1886 528 −0.92% 1891 476 −2.05% 1896 415 −2.71% 1901 377 −1.90%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1906 392 +0.78% 1911 346 −2.47% 1921 301 −1.38% 1926 288 −0.88% 1931 259 −2.10% 1936 232 −2.18% 1946 251 +0.79% 1954 204 −2.56% 1962 173 −2.04% 1968 169 −0.39% 1975 163 −0.52% 1982 147 −1.47% 1990 160 +1.06% 1999 170 +0.68% 2007 199 +1.99% 2012 235 +3.38% 2017 207 −2.51%
Source: EHESS and INSEE

The War Memorial

Sites and Monuments

The Church of Saint-Rémi and the Town Hall

• The Church of Saint-Rémi is a church dating to the 13th century in the late Romanesque style with a tympanum over the door from the 10th century representing a man with a crosier and an open book flanked by two angels. The church contains two items which are registered as historical objects:
  • A Group Sculpture: Saint Nicolas (17th century)
  • A Statue: Virgin and child (14th century)
• The Chapel of Saint Anne was built in 1911 on the site of a chapel dating from 1807 near the Saint Anne spring which was a place of pilgrimage. The Procession of Saint Anne is held on 26 July of each year.

Church and Chapel Picture Gallery

• 
  The Church of Saint-Rémi
• 
  The facade of the Church
• 
  The door to the Church
• 
  The Tympanum
• 
  Stained glass in the Church
• 
  A Wayside Cross
• 
  The chapel of Saint Anne
• 
  The Altar in the Chapel
• 
  An Oratory at the Chapel of Saint Anne
• 
  Strained glass in the Chapel

Notable people linked to the commune

• Eugène Houssière, emigrated to Louisiana USA in 1883, donated the Chapel of Saint Anne in 1911.

See also

• Communes of the Ardennes department

External links

• Baâlons
• Baâlons on the old National Geographic Institute website
• Baâlons on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website (in French)
• Baalon on the 1750 Cassini Map